![\"Mark](\"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/mark-morris-credit-amber-star-merkens.bmp\" "\\"mark")
<\/a><\/p>\nAyelet Dekel: The name Mark Morris is almost synonymous with music, so I\u2019m wondering what you\u2019ve been listening to lately?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark Morris: Oh dear\u2026well, I\u2019m always listening to whatever I am working on next and I just finished a piece to Beethoven\u2019s arrangements for Scottish songs that I\u2019ve just been choreographing. I\u2019ve been listening to some Vivaldi Operas that have been released lately that are incredibly great, and I don\u2019t know what else\u2026I\u2019ve been performing, we\u2019re performing the Nutcracker, you know, The Hard Nut, so I\u2019ve been listening to that, God knows, for weeks, so I\u2019m taking a little music break. Yeah, I do that.<\/p>\n AD: What do you do when you\u2019re on a music break.<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Not listen to music<\/p>\n AD: Are there other art forms you enjoy?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Sure I\u2019m a human. I read a great deal, I go to concerts and opera. I live in New York that\u2019s where you can do all that stuff \u2013 it\u2019s fabulous.<\/p>\n AD: So when you\u2019re on a music break, you go to concerts and listen to opera.<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: It means I have nothing on, I mean I\u2019m wearing clothes but I don\u2019t have any music on.<\/p>\n AD: You are known for your commitment to using only live music, could you comment on the difference that makes?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Well, we don\u2019t do it any other so there is no way to know, I mean, I won\u2019t\u2026 The whole point is that everybody\u2019s there in the room doing it at that moment. I take my own musicians; they are all coming with me. If it\u2019s an orchestra piece then I\u2019ll bring my own conductor and some musicians or singers or whatever. If it\u2019s an orchestra, we of course travel and meet when I\u2019m there, but if its chamber music I bring all my own people.<\/p>\n AD: When creating a new piece do you see the whole thing in your head from the start?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: No, not at all Noooo\u2026.<\/p>\n I mean, I\u2019ll have plotted some of it out, I mean I\u2019ll know basically sometimes how many people or have a rough idea of what kind of thing it\u2019s going to be. No, I do everything in studio with the dancers\u2026I don\u2019t \u2026 I work. Well, you know I\u2019ve been choreographing for a long time\u2026so I don\u2019t decide how it\u2019s going to turn out at all. I\u2019ll have some notion of where I\u2019m going but then that all changes in the studio when I get going on it.<\/p>\n I love that. It\u2019s never what I think its going to be. So I don\u2019t bother thinking what it\u2019s going to be, because it will be different from that. So I find it. You know I do a lot of homework. I study it and think a lot, but really the dance itself is made up in the studio with the dancers who are going to perform it.<\/p>\n AD: Is the choreography coming from your own natural movement?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: No, I don\u2019t improvise and then they copy it. I make it up on them; it\u2019s not improvised at all. It\u2019s me deciding what they do, and then they do it, that\u2019s the job arrangement. Chuckle<\/p>\n AD: But it\u2019s coming from your response to the music?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: I guess\u2026I don\u2019t know\u2026 I make it up. It\u2019s not in the music until I find it. It\u2019s not magic. I decide what to do and have people do it. I build it like any other structure, piece of art.<\/p>\n AD: When you\u2019re building the dance do you sketch things out at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: No, just in order to show where something should go I might sketch something. No, I don\u2019t do it at all. I work with the music and on it and remember a lot. You have to memorize everything anyway, so\u2026<\/p>\n AD: You\u2019ve worked a lot with visual artists; there is a beautiful backdrop to the Mozart\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Howard Hodgkin<\/p>\n AD: At what point does the artist come into the process?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Oh, it\u2019s usually at the beginning with any designers I work with, d\u00e9cor, or lights, or costumes, I give those people the music as soon as I know what music I\u2019m using and who I want to ask to design. So I give those people involved the music and they\u2019re thinking about it before\u2026<\/p>\n They\u2019re thinking already, then when I have dance materials to show them, I\u2019ll do that\u00a0 but it\u2019s not necessarily\u2026 of course if you\u2019re a costume designer you needs to know what they\u2019re doing, what they can\u2019t be hampered by. It happens at the same time I\u2019m doing it \u2013 come in and watch if you\u2019re going to design something. It works great.<\/p>\n AD: How involved are you with the art and costumes? Do you give them free reign to their imagination?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Oh no, I decide everything. If I liked it, I keep it. Or we change it. It\u2019s a collaboration. With Howard Hodgkin in the Mozart he sent me probably 7 or 8 different sketches \u2013different drawings that he proposed would be possible for the backdrop, I chose 3 we\u2019re doing two of those pieces in Tel Aviv, but there are three pieces on the program so I decided which ones went with what and he was fine with that because that was how he set it up so it was great and we get along very well.<\/p>\n AD: It looks beautiful; I can\u2019t wait to see it.<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Oh yeah, it\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n AD: Are you still performing?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Yeah, I was just in the Hard Nut, I perform a little bit. I\u2019ll do more. I\u2019m not quite done\u2026almost.<\/p>\n AD: How do you decide when you are going to perform in a piece?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: I have to decide way in advance, so I can get it ready. But you know, The Hard Nut; I\u2019ve been doing it for twenty years so I just go right in. Someone else runs rehearsal, I\u2019m conducting occasionally, so that\u2019s in a sense, still show business. I conduct the orchestra occasionally for a few pieces.<\/p>\n AD: You\u2019ve been performing in The Hard Nut for twenty years, is that a sentimental choice, a tradition?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: No, I\u2019m really good at it. I like it, they need me. And it\u2019s fun. I\u2019m not a very sentimental guy, I\u2019ll tell you.<\/p>\n AD: What part do you dance?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: I\u2019m the drunk party guest, as I always have been.<\/p>\n AD: Drunk party guest\u2026 if you do it next year I\u2019ll come out to New York.<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: We\u2019re doing it in NY next year in fact. We did it in Berkeley California this year. AD: What\u2019s next on your agenda? You mentioned Beethoven.<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: I\u2019m going to Edinburgh in a couple of days, that\u2019s where it will premiere New Year\u2019s Eve. But I won\u2019t be there I\u2019ll be in Israel by then I\u2019m just going to rehearse it and then they\u2019ll be on their own.<\/p>\n AD: You\u2019ve been to Israel before, are you planning to take some time out of the studio to do things here?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: I don\u2019t know yet. I was there [Israel] about twenty years ago, so I\u2019ve been a couple of times. I have friends and we\u2019re working all the time, I like the restaurants. I\u2019m not a big tourist and I have no religious interests so I don\u2019t see I don\u2019t go to the any of the holy sites, its not interesting to me.<\/p>\n AD: Your dance company is composed of older dancers.<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Most people are in their late twenties, most people are in their thirties I would say.<\/p>\n AD: What are the advantages of working with older dancers?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Oh, they\u2019re better, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n AD: What makes them better?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: They\u2019re smarter, they dance better and they get along with other people better. All these people are wonderful adult dancers. That\u2019s who I want to work with \u2013 You know 30 year olds and you know 18 year olds, who would you rather work with? That\u2019s the same as me. I\u2019m not a parent.<\/p>\n AD: What do you have to say to audiences who are looking for a particular dancer body with capabilities that older dancers cannot deliver?<\/strong><\/p>\n MM: Well then, stay home.<\/p>\n I have in no interest in this politically; I\u2019m not trying to teach anybody a lesson. I have dancers in their 40s who dance with me, and in their 30s and in their 20s and it\u2019s not to prove a point, it\u2019s not to teach anybody a lesson, it\u2019s the people I work with, that\u2019s it. I have nothing to defend on that.<\/p>\n Here – Watch my work, here\u2019s who\u2019s doing it. <\/p>\n The Mark Morris Dance Group will perform at the Israeli Opera on 19 Shaul Hamelech Blvd. Tel Aviv with two programs:<\/p>\n Program A: December 29 & 31, January 2 at 21:00 Program B: December 30, January 3 at 21:00, January 1 at 13:00 Tickets: 03-6927777, kupa@tapac.org.il<\/a>, www.israel-opera.co.il<\/a><\/p>\n Image credit: from Mozart Dances\/Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark Morris has a wonderful sense of timing and rhythm, he\u2019s humorous, witty and graceful, utterly professional, precise and decisive \u2013 and that is just on the phone. Israeli audiences will have the opportunity to see the Mark Morris Dance Group in two different programs at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv from December 29 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI don\u2019t work without music, because there\u2019s no reason not to. We listen to the recording to hear the orchestration, if there\u2019s choral music or vocal music. I have live music for class and for rehearsal and for every performance so there\u2019s nothing to compare it to. We don\u2019t do it any other way.<\/p>\n
\nRecorded music is recorded music it already happened once and now it\u2019s being played again, and I like a piece played the first time. Why would you want to reproduce something identically, that\u2019s what movies are for.<\/p>\n
\nI just show up and do my job the same as I do otherwise. I just don\u2019t perform very much.<\/p>\n
\nNext year its going to be at the Brooklyn Academy of Music so that will be great. You should come and see it.<\/p>\n
\nThey have lives. I don\u2019t want to tour with a bunch of teenagers, that\u2019s not interesting. They\u2019re not interesting to talk to. I mean, not for more than 5 minutes.<\/p>\n
\nits not instead of something else. It\u2019s not like \u2013 why do I have an old company? I just have a company. The ballet industry is a whole other point of view that I\u2019m not interested in really.<\/p>\n
\nI work with the people I work with. I started the White Oak Dance Project and the point of that was to have people who were near the end of their regular dance career people who were 40s or something\u2026<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m not translating it from any other language it\u2019s directly in its own language.<\/p>\n
\nVisitation
\nMusic: Beethoven \u2013 Sonata for cello and piano No. 4, Op. 102, No. 1
\nAll Fours
\nMusic: Bartok \u2013 String Quartet No. 4
\nV
\nMusic: Schumann \u2013 Piano Quintet in E Flat Major, Op. 44<\/p>\n
\nDouble
\nMusic: Mozart \u2013 piano concerto No. 11, arrangement for piano and strings
\nEleven
\nMusic: Mozart \u2013 Sonata in D Major for two pianos K. 488
\nGrand Duo
\nMusic: Lou Harisson \u2013 Grand Duo for violin, piano and strings, Op. 44<\/p>\n